Gauging the Unemployed’s Perceptions of Online Consent Forms

Abstract

Background: Online users are presented with consent forms when they create accounts on new websites. Such forms seek consent to collect, store and process the web user’s personal data. Forms vary, displaying a range of statements to persuade people to grant such consent. Aim: In this paper, we report on a study we carried out to gauge the unemployed users’ opinions of such forms. Methods: We commenced by reviewing the literature on consent forms and deriving several statements about consent forms that unemployed people could either agree or disagree with. We then used Q-methodology to gauge agreement with these statements. Results: Unemployed people care about their data but feel pressured to consent to giving their data away when confronted with these kinds of forms. Conclusions: A redesign of consent forms is required, because, in their current state, people – especially the unemployed – are not granting informed consent for the collection and processing of their data.